USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: November 1, 2019

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[ Map of study area surficial geology and structural features. ]

Map of surficial geology and structural features of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system and boundary conditions for the numerical model of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system. Source: Figure 1, Clark and others, 2019.

Feature: Groundwater availability in the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system

The USGS began a study in 2014 to evaluate fresh groundwater resources within the Ozark Plateaus, an area of about 68,000 square miles in the central United States in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. This study focused on multiple spatial and temporal scales to examine changes in groundwater pumping, storage, and water-level declines. Three scenarios were developed to simulate possible future conditions from 2016 to 2060. The results of this study can be used by local and regional resource mangers to inform water management and policy decisions.

Animation of Groundwater Watch Active Water Level Network

The USGS Active Groundwater Level Network includes about 20,000 wells that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 13 months. The animation shows a daily snapshot of water-level statistics in the network for October 2019. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011-15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California (10/31/19)

Study design and methods for a wetland condition assessment on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fee-title lands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, USA (10/30/19)

Comparison of groundwater-model construction methods, representations of glacial geology, model designs, and groundwater-model flow simulations within Elkhart County, Indiana (10/25/19)

The 'Ike Wai Hawai'i groundwater recharge tool (10/30/19)

Groundwater and surface-water resources near Red Fleet Reservoir, Uintah County, Utah (10/23/19)

Groundwater availability in the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (10/23/19)

Estimated use of water in Georgia for 2015 and water-use trends, 1985-2015 (10/17/19)

Baseline environmental monitoring of groundwater, surface water, and soil at the Ammonium Perchlorate Rocket Motor Destruction Facility at the Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 2016 (10/16/19)

Water for Long Island: Now and for the future (10/08/19)

Groundwater/surface-water interactions along Ellerbe Creek in Durham, North Carolina, 2016-18 (10/08/19)

Potential interaction of groundwater and surface water including autonomous underwater vehicle reconnaissance at Nolin River Lake, Kentucky, 2016 (10/02/19)

Regionalization of groundwater residence time using metamodeling (10/02/19)

Anthropogenic and geologic causes of anomalously high uranium concentrations in groundwater used for drinking water supply in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, CA (10/17/19)

Anderson Ranch wetlands hydrologic characterization in Taos County, New Mexico (10/03/19)

Water resources on Guam -- Potential impacts of and adaptive response to climate change (10/01/19)

Scenarios of climate adaptation potential on protected working lands from management of soils (10/10/19)

The hydrologic system of the south Florida peninsula -- Development and application of the Biscayne and Southern Everglades Coastal Transport (BISECT) model (10/03/19)

Core Science Systems -- Mission overview (10/03/19)

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

SUTRA model used to evaluate the freshwater flow system for a future (2080-2099) climate on Guam

MODFLOW-2000 model files used to simulate wellbore flow and evaluate aquifer properties and heterogeneity in wells at Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California

MODFLOW-2000 model used to illustrate the differences in flow paths and travel times when three-dimensional kriging is used to estimate the hydraulic conductivity distribution as compared to manual determinations of hydraulic conductivity distribution

MODFLOW-2005 and MODPATH6 models used to simulate groundwater flow and nitrate transport in two tributaries to the Upper Chester River, Maryland

MODFLOW-NWT model of groundwater flow in the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system, version 1.1

MODFLOW2005 groundwater-flow model used to simulate water-supply pumping scenarios near the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Field Photo

In this photo, USGS Hydrologic Technician Sam Banas performs a site inspection at a USGS soil moisture and continuous groundwater well monitoring site. The USGS monitors groundwater wells that are part of USGS studies around the Nation. You can view or download data from these active USGS groundwater sites from the USGS National Water Information web site. The well in this photo is USGS site 424250072493101 MA-HNW 14 in Heath, Massachusetts, and is managed by the USGS New England Water Science Center.

[ Photo of scientist inspecting equipment in the field. Ground is covered with snow, and there is a USGS truck in the background. ]

Credit: USGS. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.